


Candy Canes and Silver Lanes Aglow

by Silveny-Dreams (VintageOT5)



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Fluff, gwyn you are legally obligated to kill me on sight, i am sincerely sorry that this is literally a year late, keefex, seriously this is all just. fluff, solinh, solinh really said be gay do crime, sophie and keefe are bros, sophie is head empty no thoughts all day long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27873098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VintageOT5/pseuds/Silveny-Dreams
Summary: Maybe going to see some Christmas lights together will finally help Sophie to confess her crush on Linh Song. She's not optimistic about her odds.
Relationships: Dex Dizznee/Keefe Sencen, Sophie Foster/Linh Song
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	Candy Canes and Silver Lanes Aglow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my friend Gwyn formerly of dexvolution2k20](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=my+friend+Gwyn+formerly+of+dexvolution2k20).



> This....was for a Secret Santa exchange. In 2019. Gwyn. GWYN. I am so, so sorry. You deserved better from me, my friend. I have no excuse but my own utter incompetence. Please accept my most heartfelt apology with some fluffy Solinh and side-Keefex.

Sophie Foster was on the brink of internal crisis—which, unfortunately, was nothing new. 

This was, however, a  _ gay _ crisis—and that  _ was _ a little new. At least to her.

“But how do you know, like,  _ for sure _ that she likes me?” Sophie asked Keefe for what must have been the one hundredth time that afternoon. 

Keefe rolled his eyes and flicked a Prattle at her, nailing her squarely in the forehead. 

“Foster, we’ve been over this. And over this. And _over_ this. Linh Song is the most obvious elf ever _._ Like, even more obvious than Fitzy. _Seriously_ obvious _._ If she’s not into you, literally all of us have to eat our capes. _Plus,_ that’s not even what we should be focusing on right now.”

Sophie scowled and rubbed her forehead, picking up the Prattle and tossing it into her mouth. “And what should we be focusing on, genius?” 

“Uh,  _ how you confess to her,  _ already,” Keefe said, smirking in that “uh, duh” way that always made Sophie want to smack him upside the head with a pillow. “And like I already said, I definitely think your freakishly awesome human stuff is the way to go. You said it’s almost Christmas in the Forbidden Cities, right?”

Sophie nodded, feeling a familiar pang at the thought of missing the holidays again. 

“And you’ve told us that there are, like, a thousand things people like to do during the holidays,” Keefe said, as if the way was clear. “So you pick one that’s disgustingly cute and ask her over to do it with you, and  _ that’s  _ when you confess.” 

“You make it sound so easy,” Sophie grumbled, hugging Ella to her chest. 

“Because it  _ is, _ ” Keefe laughed, sprawling even more across the foot of her bed and grabbing another packet of Prattles. “Honestly, if you two keep dancing around this completely obvious thing you have for each other, we’ll have to take matters into our own hands. And I assume you’d rather we didn’t, right?” 

Sophie groaned, thinking of all the embarrassing, disastrous ways her friends could try and shove her and Linh together. “Yes,  _ please _ stay out of it.” 

“I gotta say, seeing you like this with Linh is kind of a relief,” Keefe mused, opening the satchel to the Prattles pin in the new box. “I used to think you were genuinely avoiding thinking about my crush on you before. Now I just know you’re a dumbass.” 

Sophie grabbed a pillow from behind her and threw it at him. 

Keefe laughed again. “Seriously, the human stuff will work! It definitely would’ve worked with me.” 

Sophie smirked. “Yeah, before you decided you liked Technopath stuff better.” 

Keefe rolled his eyes, but Sophie could see a blush tinge the tips of his ears, and it made her feel soft. 

“Yeah, well, you’re missing out there,” Keefe murmured, fishing out a couple more Prattles and trying to hide the pleased smile on his face. “And you had, like, every chance not to miss out, too. For like two years.” 

“Somehow I think Dex is happier this way,” Sophie murmured, still smirking, and Keefe’s face flushed the same color as his ears. 

“Enough about me and Dizznee! We gotta get Operation Solinh into action!” 

Sophie scoffed. “You and your stupid couple names.” 

“You’re just jealous that Keefex sounds cooler than Solinh.  _ Anyway _ , name the top five cutest couply things to do at Christmastime.”

Sophie was relieved to have the assistance of a friend who’d been interested in her for this, the attempted wooing of someone she was interested in. When Keefe left that evening, Sophie felt a little less frazzled about the whole thing, and a little more resolved to confess to Linh. 

Naturally, all that confidence was gone in the morning. 

“I’m starting to wonder how you have any eyelashes at all. You’re pulling out so many.” 

Sophie started violently at the sound of Linh’s voice, turning to face her so fast that she banged her head against her open locker door. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Linh said quickly, covering her mouth with one hand. “Are you okay?” 

“Definitely,” Sophie squeaked, feeling the color on her face rise and the number of functioning braincells fall. This was how things were for Sophie around Linh lately—bright red face, head devoid of thoughts, Linh always looking both concerned for Sophie and like she was trying not to laugh at her. It didn’t stay that way for long, but when Linh sort of  _ sprung  _ on her like that... 

There was no hope for at least the first five minutes of conversation. 

“Just, um...” Sophie floundered around in her brain for something intelligent to say.  _ Where had all her thoughts gone? They’d all been here two seconds ago. _ “Just...thinking about, um...human stuff.” 

_ Smooth, Foster. _

“That’s right, it’s some sort of holiday for humans really soon, yeah?” Linh asked, smiling and tucking some of her hair behind her ear in such a distracting way that Sophie nearly forgot to answer. 

“Oh, yeah, Christmas,” she managed to reply. “It’s pretty big. The whole world celebrates it. The human world, I mean, not the  _ world  _ world. But that’s…you already knew that.” 

(Sophie could just see Keefe smirking at her in her mind.) 

“You must miss it,” Linh murmured, tilting her head and smiling sadly. 

Sophie tried not to let Linh’s thoughtfulness cloud her brain. 

“Yeah, I do a little,” Sophie admitted. “It was worse last year, and the year before that. At this point it’s more of a bummer than anything.” 

“From how you’ve talked about it, it sounds like there’s a lot of stuff to miss, too.” 

Sophie felt her blush spread to her ears when Linh pouted her lower lip the tiniest bit. 

_ Stop staring, stop staring, she’s cute but you’re staring, staring is weird, stop st— _

“How do you feel about crime?” 

The words were out of Sophie’s mouth before literally any thoughts crossed her mind. 

Linh blinked a couple times, raising one eyebrow in curiosity. “Crime?” 

Sophie felt like banging her head against her locker door again. “Sorry, that came out a little, uh, weird. I...well, it does kind of include crime? I guess?” 

_ What in the hell am I even saying? _

“I mean," Sophie tried again, “I mean, you know how elves, like...can’t go to the Forbidden Cities, and all that. So like...going there would probably be a crime. This is coming out all in the wrong order.” 

_ WHY AM I STILL TALKING?? _

Sophie tried,  _ very hard,  _ not to let Linh biting her lip distract her. 

“I was just, I was thinking about how much I’d like to visit the Forbidden Cities, I guess? Just to see the snow, and the Christmas decorations, and I just...maybeyouwouldliketogowithmeorsomething.” 

“Pardon?” Linh asked, and Sophie felt her face get even redder as a sweet smile spread over Linh’s face. 

“Sorry, I...I just thought, maybe it'd be more fun not to, you know...break the law alone? I mean, not just breaking the law, of course, you know...going to see the human stuff. I want to go one way or another, and like...I dunno, if you want to come with, that’d be, I mean...It’s stupid, don’t worry about it,” Sophie mumbled, staring at her shoes and scratching the back of her neck. 

_ So much for wooing her with human stuff, smooth talker. _

“Seeing the human cities all decorated for Christmas sounds fun!” 

Sophie dared a glance at Linh, and felt her heart nearly beat out of her chest at Linh’s brilliant grin. 

“Turns out I must like crime, after all,” Linh continued, laughing a little. 

The corners of her eyes always got so crinkly and cute when she laughed like that. 

Sophie was sure she could fry an egg on her face, it felt so hot. “Hah, well, that’s...good. That’s good! Um, I was thinking about going Friday evening, after school?” 

“Pretty sure my schedule’s free,” Linh said, smiling. “Should I meet you somewhere, or?” 

“You can come home with me to Havenfield and we can go from there,” Sophie decided, feeling relieved. 

There was a pause. 

“You coming to study hall?” Linh asked after a second, smiling and beckoning her head. “We’re almost late.” 

_ Oh, right. School. School that I’m in right now _ . “Oh, uh, yeah.” 

Sophie turned back to her locker to hide the triumphant and embarrassed grin on her face. 

\-- 

Sophie Foster was on the brink of internal crisis. Again. Internal  _ gay  _ crisis. 

What else was new? 

“This is what you wanted, Foster,” Keefe reminded her, clearly enjoying himself. “You wanted her to say yes and come with you.” 

“I change my mind!” Sophie groaned, hiding her face in her pillow. “Just let me be alone forever instead. At least I won’t embarrass myself in front of Linh that way.” 

“You know, I’ve heard about this human concept...karma? I think this is it,” Sophie heard Dex say amusedly. 

Sophie looked up from the pillow and glared at Dex, who had his head resting on Keefe’s leg. 

“What?” Dex asked, lifting his hands defensively. “You wouldn’t  _ believe  _ all the times I was almost too embarrassed to face you again after I said or did something ridiculous. This is just the universe getting payback.” 

“Don’t,” she warned him. “Don’t even start. Not when you get to be all happy and cute with this idiot here—” 

“An idiot you love, by the way,” Keefe interjected, “since I’m the one who came up with the idea of sneaking off to the Forbidden Cities in the first place.” 

Sophie made a frustrated noise and flopped back against her pillows, glaring up at her crystal chandelier. 

“C’mon, Foster, this is progress! The sooner one of you finally caves and says it, the sooner you two can be disgustingly cute together, and the sooner all of our friends start teasing  _ you  _ instead of me and Dex.” 

Sophie groaned again, rolling her eyes. “Is  _ that  _ what this is about? Getting our friends off your backs?” 

“I can’t help but see the added bonus,” Keefe said, and she could hear that stupid smirk in his voice again. “But mainly I just want you to be happy, too. Your happiness is waaayyyy overdue.” 

“Dating makes you mushy,” Sophie mumbled, finally cracking a smile when Keefe half-heartedly flipped her off. 

“Where in the Forbidden Cities are you taking her?” Dex asked. 

Sophie shrugged. “I was thinking Santa Claus, Indiana. I heard it’s been pretty snowy there this winter, so it’ll be perfect.” 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Keefe said, frowning. “You could take her…literally anywhere. Like, anywhere in the whole world, Foster. Up north to see the northern lights, where we buried Forkle, or dogsledding in the mountains, or even to some big city, like Florence or that one your human movies are always in, New York…and you want to take her  _ where _ , again?” 

Sophie felt her face flame. “Well, when you put it like  _ that _ , it sounds lame…it’s just one of the best places in the country to see Christmas lights and decorations. Plus, it won’t be insanely crowded because it’s not a big place like New York.” 

Keefe shook his head, grinning. “Well, she’ll love it no matter what. But I’m pretty sure that’s because she likes  _ you _ so much.” 

Surprisingly, Dex beat Sophie to the punch on a retort. 

“Ah, let her live,” Dex insisted, grinning up at Keefe with such a sweet look in his face that Sophie felt her heart twist on Keefe’s behalf. “Different strokes for different folks. Don’t forget, you think all the wacky gadgets I made to help you pull off your pranks are the best inventions ever, and I’m sure most of Foxfire disagrees.” 

“Yeah, well, that’s just their lack of taste,” Keefe mumbled, and Sophie’s heart twisted again at the blush on Keefe’s cheeks as he ruffled Dex’s hair. 

“Did you bring the stuff I asked about?” Sophie asked Dex before things could get even more disgustingly cute. 

“Oh, right!” 

Dex sat up and scooted towards the end of Sophie’s bed, missing Keefe’s pouty scowl at the loss of contact. 

“Okay, let me make sure there isn’t any unnecessary stuff in here,” Dex said as he pulled a large bag onto the bed and opened it. “Will you be driving a car at any point?” 

Sophie raised an eyebrow. “I don’t…think so?” 

Dex removed two license-shaped things from the bag. 

“And you won’t have to cross any borders, right?” 

“Uh, no?” 

Two passports came out of the bag next. 

“You said it would be cold, right?” 

“Yeah, and a little snowy.” 

“Okay, got that covered.” Dex rifled through the rest of the bag’s contents, which sounded fabric-y. “I imagine you’ll buy stuff?” 

“I dunno, maybe a snack or something.” 

Dex pulled out a black wallet that looked like it could be from a spy movie. “I gave you American cash and also a credit card in case you’re, you know, not in America or something. Is $1,500 enough?” 

Keefe snorted at the way Sophie blinked at Dex in shock. 

“Uhh…yeah,” Sophie said, snorting. “I mean, it’ll be a  _ close thing _ , for sure, but I  _ suppose _ that’s enough.” 

“Don’t worry, Foster, I made sure it wasn’t all in huge bills,” Keefe said, smirking. “Wouldn’t want your date interrupted by police questioning when you try to pay for snacks with Benjamins.” 

“Don’t call it a date, don’t jinx it,” Sophie insisted, squeezing her eyes shut and knocking on the wood of her headboard, just to be safe. 

“He just theorized that you could get arrested and you’re worried about him calling it a date?” Dex laughed. 

Sophie glared at him. “Being arrested is nothing to gay panic.  _ Nothing. _ Surely you know this.” 

“Fair,” Dex chuckled, closing up the bag and setting it back down on the floor. “That should have everything you need. I’ll scramble both of your registry feeds from after school until midnight, just to be safe.” 

“Thanks,” Sophie murmured, feeling her heart start pounding up into her throat. Oh, god, she was going to take Linh on a date. 

_ Not a date,  _ Sophie’s paranoia hissed, but she knew better. 

“Let’s hope all the Hallmark movies were right and there’s Christmas magic out there,” she mumbled, hugging her knees. “Gay Christmas magic.” 

“Hey, if there was hope for us, there’s definitely hope for you,” Keefe reassured her, grinning when Dex smacked his arm. “Relax, Foster. No need for the overwhelming sense of doom.” 

“Mhm,” Sophie squeaked. “Yup. Got it.” 

“Girls,” Dex muttered, shaking his head, perplexed. 

\-- 

Sophie spent the entirety of Friday fighting nervous jitters. 

Despite knowing she was the only student in each of her sessions, she brought her old iPod with her to sneak glances at the weather app for updates on Santa Claus, Indiana. It  _ said  _ it was going to start snowing around noon, but Sophie  _ was  _ in the Lost Cities…who knew if the weather reports stayed accurate this far away, in a place humans thought didn’t exist? 

She barely had the presence of mind to be ashamed when Lady Cadence gave her a detention for not paying proper attention. 

“Detention? What happened?” Linh asked when Sophie told her friends she wouldn’t be going to lunch with the rest of them. 

Sophie blushed. “Oh, um. I was having trouble paying attention in Linguistics today. You know how Lady Cadence is.” 

“Wonder what could have been on the Mysterious Miss F’s mind,” Keefe murmured, and Sophie glared at his smirk. 

“Well, good luck,” Linh said, and Sophie felt her heart give a funny little leap at the hint of disappointment on Linh’s face. “I’ll see you in study hall.” 

“Yeah, study hall,” Sophie breathed. 

And it was the look of disappointment on Linh’s face when Sophie said she’d miss lunch that bolstered her courage throughout the rest of the day. Maybe, just maybe, Linh had wanted Sophie to be at lunch for reasons other than friendship...? 

She knew she was grasping at straws here. 

She tried not to be nervous when she met Linh at the Leapmaster after school, leaping them both to Havenfield. And she tried not to be nervous when Grady and Edaline gave Linh huge grins, the type that said “I absolutely know stuff you don’t but it’s the good, sweet kind” as Sophie gave Linh a coat, hat, and mittens to wear.

“When can we expect the two of you back?” Grady asked, sipping casually at a glass of lushberry juice on the terrace as Sophie took Linh down to the grassy expanse of the yard.

“Well,” Sophie said, trying not to be annoyed at this Typical Parent Of A Child On A Date behavior, “we want to be there while it’s dark for the lights, so probably a few hours?”

Edaline placed a hand on Grady’s shoulder and gave him a fleeting Look before turning and grinning at Sophie and Linh.

“Have a great time, you two. Don’t forget you can hail us if you need anything.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t,” Sophie grumbled, taking Linh’s hand. “Ready?”

“Whenever you are,” Linh said, eyes sparkling.

They took off in a run, and Sophie concentrated, splitting the void open and focusing on the destination she wanted.

“Oh,” Linh breathed when they arrived, looking delighted. 

The world materializing around them was blanketed in white, and more snow flurried down from the darkening sky above in thick, fluffy flakes. 

Sophie grinned, unable to tear her eyes away from Linh’s enchanted expression. “Not bad, huh?” 

Sophie bit her lip as Linh held out her mittened hand, catching snowflakes there, looking at them curiously. 

“I always forget how beautiful water is when it’s crystallized like this.” 

_ Oh, right. Hydrokinetic. _ Sophie frowned, suddenly concerned. “Is the snow going to call to you? I don’t want you to struggle—” 

“It’s fine, Sophie,” Linh insisted, laughing. “Snow is different. It’s…it’s like the difference between how a dog greets you and how a cat greets you. The snow will leave me be.” 

_ God, she’s even poetic. Is she good at everything? _ Sophie wondered, feeling the usual surge of fondness for Linh bubble in her chest. 

“Wanna do something like sledding? Or building a snowman?” Sophie asked. 

Linh tilted her head. “I thought you wanted to see the Christmas decorations.” 

“I-I mean, I do,” Sophie stammered. “But I miss snow, too. Perpetual springtime is actually…super-boring, in the Lost Cities. And snow won’t last forever. The decorations will still be there.” 

“You should have told me,” Linh teased, grinning. “They could have called me the Girl of Many Storms, if they’d wanted. I could have swamped your house in a foot of snow whenever.”

Sophie laughed. “I’ll definitely remember that, don’t worry.”

Linh glanced at the drifts of snow they stood in, then spread her arms and flopped onto her back. 

“How about we make snow angels?” She giggled. 

Sophie had to take a second to collect herself, to try and pretend that wasn’t the cutest thing she’d ever seen Linh do (although honestly,  _ everything _ was the cutest thing she’d ever seen Linh do). She shrugged Dex’s backpack off her shoulders and copied Linh, flopping back into the snow with a  _ thwump _ . 

“Fine by me!” 

They had made at least ten snow angels, coating their backs entirely in powdery white, before Linh decided she didn’t want to spend the rest of the night soaked through. They spent a few moments trying to whack all of the snow off their backs and legs. 

“I can feel there’s this stupid spot on my back I can’t reach,” Linh muttered, trying in vain to twist her arm far enough behind her back to reach it. 

“Here, I got it,” Sophie said, reaching out and brushing the snow from her back. 

“Thanks,” Linh said, grinning. “Here, turn around, I’ll help you, too.” 

Sophie turned, gulping when she felt Linh brace one of her hands on Sophie’s hip while her other hand brushed snow off her coat.  _ Nope, no gay panic, now is not the time for gay panic, you need this date to go well—NOT A DATE NOT A DATE WAIT— _

“I think that’s all of it,” Linh said brightly, and Sophie hoped to god her face wasn’t on fire as she turned back around. 

“Ready to see some lights?” Sophie asked, feigning a confident playfulness she wished she really had. How was Keefe so good at this? Why hadn’t she asked Keefe to give her pointers? 

“Sounds good to me!” 

They hadn’t teleported too far out of town, which was by design—Sophie didn’t want humans freaking out because a couple of girls popped into existence in the middle of the street. They only had to walk over one snowy hill to make it into town, the hub of all things Christmasy this time of year.

“Wow, that’s a lot of lights,” Linh murmured, raising her eyebrows as they crested the hill. 

She wasn’t wrong. Sophie had almost forgotten how extra humans got with their Christmas lights, making them cover every bare surface, some even flickering in time to Christmas music. 

“It’s like Vegas but Christmasy,” Sophie mumbled under her breath, hoping Linh didn’t hear; she didn’t know how she’d properly explain Las Vegas to Linh. 

Sophie didn’t understand how a date could be both the best time ever and the most agonizing all at once. Seeing the Christmas lights and recalling fond childhood Christmas memories was bittersweet and nostalgic. Sophie couldn't think of anyone else she’d want to share it with than Linh.

And  _ Linh _ . God, she was breaktaking. Sophie couldn't stop herself from staring, watching Linh’s face glow in the light of the twinkling Christmas decorations. The whole evening was magical and perfect in a easy Sophie had hardly dared to believe could be true.

Well, almost the whole evening. The confessing bit was absolutely killing Sophie inside.

She tried the first time when they stopped to buy gingerbread and hot cocoa.

“So,” Sophie started, bracing herself to finally come clean.

Linh raised her eyebrows. “So?”

The way her eyes glittered with reflections of Christmas lights was both distracting and terrifying to Sophie.  _ Not yet. Soon. _

“So, uh, how many cookies should we get?” Sophie deflected.

Linh smiled mischievously. “How many can we buy?”

Sophie tried again as they walked along, eating from their dozen purchased cookies and sipping their cocoa as they enjoyed the Christmas music playing through the storefront speakers.

“You’ve, uh…” Sophie gestured at her mouth, then got an idea.

Finagling off her glove, Sophie lifted a thumb and wiped away a few cookie crumbs from the corner of Linh’s mouth. Linh’s face flushed pink, and Sophie tried to calm the stampeding herd of buffalo going “!!!!!!” in her stomach.

“Hey, um,” she started.

Linh cocked her head, and Sophie wondered if it was hope she saw in Linh’s eyes. “Hey what?”

_ Just do it. Go on. Spit it out. Really fast. _

Sophie opened her mouth just as some guy knocked into Linh’s side, causing half of her cocoa to slosh onto the sidewalk.

“Oh, shoot, I’m so sorry,” the boy apologized, then blinked in astonishment upon getting a better look at Linh. “I, uh...can I buy you a new one?”

Sophie nearly broke her cookie into crumbles on accident when her hand tightened into a fist. Of course. Of  _ course _ some dude was hitting on Linh. She was an elf, after all, and an unearthly beautiful one, too.

Sophie coughed pointedly, and the guy’s eyes flickered to Sophie.

“Uh, one for you and your friend?” He amended.

Friend.  _ Just a friend _ . Sophie felt her metaphorical hackles going up, and suddenly she knew she was going to do it. She was going to confess how she felt to Linh Song tonight, because she couldn’t stand the way this guy was looking at Linh, the way she wanted to blurt out “she’s taken” and have Linh agree with her.

“Oh, um. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” Sophie heard Linh say absently, turning away from the guy and not looking back. “Can I have another cookie?”

Sophie felt the corner of her mouth twitch in satisfaction as disappointment clearly showed in the guy’s face.

“Sure, here you go,” Sophie said, handing Linh another gingerbread man.

Linh took it, biting its head off and chewing gladly as they continued walking.

“You can have some of mine, if you want,” Sophie offered, holding out her cup of cocoa.

Linh laughed. “Thanks, I might have a sip in a minute.”

“It’s no cinnacreme,” Sophie admitted, taking another sip of the generic cocoa. Her family had made it far better than this.

Linh grinned. “It doesn’t have to be. It’s special to you, and that’s enough.”

Sophie had to blink a few times for her brain to start working again. That herd of buffalo in her stomach went “!!!!!!!!” all over again.

_ Now would be the perfect time to say it _ , her conscience nudged her.

Sophie felt her mouth go dry. That was...probably right.

“Hey, Linh?” 

Sophie felt her stomach turn to ice, and she gulped.  _ Three times the charm, maybe… _

“Hmm?” Linh hummed, raising her eyebrows and smiling. 

_ Could she stop being cute for, like, two seconds?! _ Sophie tried to get her mind to work properly, tried to force the cloud of butterflies erupting in her stomach to behave, tried to believe what Keefe and Dex and everyone else kept telling her, that this wouldn’t end in rejection, it really wouldn’t… 

No. 

She couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t. 

“Do you have a decoration you like best?” Sophie finally asked, stomach painfully twisted. 

Linh blinked, and for a fleeting moment, Sophie thought she saw disappointment on her face. 

“Oh! Well, there are so many pretty ones. I think I like the lights that flicker the m—” 

“I like you.” 

Sophie heard herself blurt the words out without thinking, no decorum or pretense or anything. 

Linh snapped her mouth shut, blinking rapidly, and Sophie felt her heart sink all the way into her shoes. 

_ Way to go, idiot. Now look what you’ve done. _

Sophie felt her entire face was flaming like the setting sun. “I-I mean, I…not just as friends. I’m…sorry.” 

_ PLEASE stop talking, you’re only making it worse, _ her brain pleaded, and she dropped her gaze away from Linh as they kept walking. 

For a while, there was a very tense silence. Sophie could feel her miserable, aching heart still floating around near her feet. Lights continued flashing all around them, but they’d lost their shine.

She looked out towards the end of Main Street and saw the little frozen pond in front of City Hall, where several light-up swans were situated on top of the ice. What she wouldn’t give to walk out there and sink to the bottom to hide from the world beneath the surface forever. 

Sophie felt something brush against her gloved hand. 

Sophie glanced down, then did a double take. 

Linh was holding her hand. 

Linh…Linh Song was…holding her hand. 

Linh was  _ holding her hand? _

“I, um…” 

Linh’s voice was especially small, so soft and fragile that Sophie felt like her chest would burst. 

“I like you, too,” Linh whispered, cheeks pink, looking fascinated by the light-up nutcrackers sitting in the shop window next to them. “Not just as friends.” 

And all of a sudden, Sophie’s heart was no longer in her shoes, but all the way up in her throat. She swallowed thickly, trying to remember that she had to breathe, that breathing wasn’t something you had to think about to do, that air was all around her just for breathing… 

And she’d pick the air around Linh Song anytime. 

Sophie cleared her throat, trying to sound casual, and screwed up her courage to gently squeeze Linh’s mittened hand, the one in hers.  _ Linh Song was holding her hand. _

“W-well…that’s good, then. Yeah.” 

Linh glanced at Sophie shyly, raising an eyebrow. 

“I-I mean,” Sophie stammered, watching the grin spread over Linh’s face. “I’m just, I-I…ugh, I’m not good with words, okay? Not around you.” 

Sophie’s heartbeat skipped gleefully at the sound of Linh’s soft laugh. 

“No, you’re right. It’s good this way. Really good.” 

Sophie had never truly appreciated how beautiful Christmas really was.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm interested in maybe doing a tag-on fluffy epilogue, if anyone else is interested in seeing it! Thanks for making it through.
> 
> If my utter incompetence hasn't disgusted you, feel free to come talk to me on tumblr at @silveny-dreams! I make a rad headcanon over there.


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